The Pac10 went about beginning to clarify the relative strengths and status of its member teams on Saturday. There were some surprising results - and some confirmations. And there's still a whole lot still to be clarified.

Of most immediate interest to UCLA fans (and the team) were Stanford's handling of Washington. The mistake now being made about Stanford is the same one made about Michigan - the Wolverines were ranked 'way high because they beat Notre Dame. But the Irish aren't a very good team. (Nor, actually, is Tennessee, so we need to wait a bit and see how our Bruins develop and perform the next three weeks before we sell out on an opinion of how good we really are right now.)

As has been noted by Blitzers on the bulletin boards, when UDub took USC, they were sky high, had lousy Seattle weather on their side, have a coaching staff that is intimately familiar with Pete Carroll's operation and what its weaknesses might be (as UCLA had defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker when the Bruins beat them 13-9 and he also was more than familiar with their offense), and UDub caught USC with its backup quarterback, playing in his first game, and the Trojans coming off a big road win over Ohio State. Talk about a trap!